Cold Exchange at the Viewport
Plot Beats
The narrative micro-steps within this event
Data observes Setal brooding alone in Ten-Forward, prompting a tense exchange about privacy and curiosity.
Setal recognizes Data as an android and makes a veiled threat about Romulan cyberneticists, testing boundaries.
Who Was There
Characters present in this moment
Brooding melancholy intercut with defensiveness — nostalgic for home yet suspicious, using menace to preserve distance and prevent being treated as an object of study.
Setal sits alone at the table, nursing an exotic drink, brooding at the viewport. He confronts Data's scrutiny, identifies him as an android, issues a veiled threat invoking Romulan cyberneticists, recounts nostalgic memories of Romulus, and rejects the artificial comforts of the ship.
- • Protect his bodily autonomy and emotional privacy from perceived exploitation.
- • Signal to Data (and any observers) that he cannot be casually studied or controlled.
- • Express and preserve the memory of his home as a form of dignity in exile.
- • Believes that androids and those who study them (and Romulan cyberneticists) will seek to dissect or exploit him or his culture.
- • Believes exile is permanent and that Starfleet cannot meaningfully reproduce Romulan experiences.
- • Believes displays of vulnerability invite predation or loss of agency.
Clinically curious and earnest — outwardly calm while earnestly seeking understanding; his neutrality briefly wounds Setal but aims to soothe through factual competence.
Data sits at the adjacent table, unobtrusively observes Setal, initiates dialogue to probe emotions and cultural memory, offers factual clarifications about Starfleet limitations, and ends with the conciliatory line offering to 'bring Romulus to you.'
- • Establish an accurate understanding of Setal's emotional state and cultural references.
- • Build rapport and reduce Setal's alienation through conversation.
- • Test boundaries of privacy and social norms to learn how Romulans respond to inquiry.
- • Believes that emotional states can be mapped and understood through direct questioning and observation.
- • Believes offering information or simulated experiences (bringing Romulus) can provide comfort and build trust.
- • Believes the crew's shared preferences (viewport) are meaningful entry points for connection.
Neutral-to-pleasant collective sentiment — their preferences are used to normalize the viewport as comforting space.
Various crewmembers are cited indirectly by Data as favoring the Ten-Forward viewport; they are not present in dialogue but function as a social referent that Data uses to broker small comfort.
- • Maintain shipboard morale by preserving small comforts and shared spaces.
- • Provide social norms that crew members (and visiting guests) can lean on for consolation.
- • Believes the viewport offers solace and connection for those far from home.
- • Believes small, shared amenities can alleviate exile or loneliness.
Objects Involved
Significant items in this scene
A waist-high table anchors the scene: Setal sits at it nursing an exotic alien concoction, pushes the drink aside in disgust, and uses the table as the staging point for his brooding. The table functions as tactile grounding for private conversation and visible evidence of Setal's displacement.
Location Details
Places and their significance in this event
The Apnex Sea is referenced as the horizon of Setal's Romulan home, its spires rising above the water serving as a concrete image of civilization and belonging that he can no longer touch.
Gath Gal'thong is invoked by Setal as a sensory memory — the place of the 'firefalls' and visceral home beauty. It functions here as an emotional anchor and the yardstick against which Ten-Forward's artificial comforts fail.
The holodeck-generated Romulus is not shown but is implied by Data's offer to 'bring Romulus to you.' It functions as a narrative mechanism that could translate Setal's longing into simulated, controlled experience aboard the ship.
Narrative Connections
How this event relates to others in the story
"Setal's longing for Romulan culture echoes Data's attempt to recreate Romulus on the holodeck."
Key Dialogue
"SETAL: "You're the android.""
"SETAL: "I know a host of Romulan cyberneticists who would love to be this close to you.""
"DATA: "But perhaps we can bring Romulus to you.""